sunflowery's Diaryland Diary

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Waiting for the Fire Alarm

Well, my Southern Living at H0me party wasn't huge, but we did have fun. 3 people showed up (we were expecting 4) and everyone bought something, so that is good and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. Of course, I had way too much food, but what we had was yummy and homey. We haven't closed the party yet because the person that didn't show up when we were expecting her had a family emergency that night, but still wanted to order.

Yesterday I made some follow-up calls to the businesses I sent letters to for donations for our office United Way fundraiser. I got a little of everything in way of response. Some businesses have you contact "corporate". Some don't care to donate at all. I did get a free pie from Baker's Square. One guy told me he won't have anything to do with our company. I called a local florist and she said to come by and she's have something for me. When I stopped by, her assistant handed me 2 lace doilies. Woo. But my biggest coup of the day was a watch from a local jeweler worth $185! Yay! I have several more calls to make, but today will be crazy busy at work so I don't think they will get done today.

Today, our building is having a fire drill/emergency evacuation. Also, we are building training binders for a new training our bankers need to go through. Also, I have a teleconference training scheduled, not to mention the regular work and phone calls that must get answered. We have 3 people gone, so the work we normally do will be compounded because of that as well. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.

I'm crocheting face clothes from a beautiful cotton chenile yarn. I hope to donate them to our United Way fundraiser. Maybe they can raffle them off. I included cute little soaps with each one and think they make cute little giftie items.

The Twin Cities has been thrust into the belly of Fall this week. Our high temp on Tuesday was 59. This morning when I was ready to leave for work, it was 46 degrees. It feels like fall. Until yesterday afternoon it was cool with the grey, angry skies you usually associate with an early fall snow. I have even seen a few trees beginning to turn. There is some wild sumac on my drive to work that has a few lone leaves turning red already. I am not ready for fall or winter yet. But the good news is the state fair is in 2 weeks. We always have hot steamy weather during the state fair, so I know we aren't done with summer yet.

The jeweler in our building is already reaping business by his generosity. I brought my grandmother's engagement ring with me today to see if they can repair one of the prongs. I have the ring but my mother has the original diamond. In its place in the ring is my birthstone. But it's loose and I need to have it repaired. It's been sitting in my jewelery box for over a year now. I used to wear it on my left hand before I was married. Now I want to wear it on my right, but it's a little small. I may ask them to make it bigger for me too. Before any work gets done though, I want an estimate. We're not rolling in dough, so I need to be prudent.

Speaking of which, working for big bank co. does not mean you are well taken care of in times of crisis. Somehow, someway, something funky happened in our budgeting and bill paying this week which ended up in 2 overdrafts from our bank. (the bank which I work for.) Also, we have signed up for online bill pay so money is taken directly from our account and sent directly to the companies we pay. We received notice that the money was taken from our account and yet we received 2 notices from companies we pay with online banking that they did NOT receive their payments and therefore, they would be assessing late fees to our account. Yeah, let's review. Our bank took the money out of our account and somehow we overdrafted (still don't know how) resulting in $33 ISF for each overdraft. Yet the money was not applied to our bills so the companies needing the funds did not receive them so they assessed us late fees. Bob was on the phone with BBC for a while trying to get this sorted out. Thankfully, we wrote down our confirmation numbers when paying our bills and now BBC is responsible for the late fees assessed to one of our bills. The other company received their money late due to banking error so they took off the late fee and all is good on that end. But BBC will NOT reverse the overdrafts, even though orginially the money that was taken out to pay bills, never went anywhere and even though I'm an employee of BBC. Nice, huh? $33! What a rip off.

This weekend we are going to Bob's sister and brother in laws car repair place to get the oil changed in our cars. Also, they are done with the ramp they made for Bob's truck. We are so excited to get this ramp. I can't wait to see the finished product. This will mean better mobility for Bob and I think he's really physched. The only problem I forsee is weather related. His pickup has an open box which catches all the rain and snow. We have covers for his chair and scooter, but if it's filled with snow, it will definitely make it harder for him to get his chair in and out of the truck. Maybe we can just stick a broom in there too. Thankfully, Bob parks in the garage so at least he is protected that way.

Sunday we are having a games day with friends after church. They are just coming over and we are going to play games together all afternoon. I am looking forward to that.

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A Year Ago Today: August 12, 2003, What Makes A Difference in the Dark Places of the Soul

We have an amazing church family. First of all, one of our pastors showed up at our apartment on Saturday and visited with us for 2 hours. He didn�t offer the pat spiritual tripe that so many people offer up in times of destress and hardship. He sat with us while we cried. He hugged and loved on us and before he left, he prayed with us.

At church on Sunday, he talked about what it meant to be in the dark spaces of the soul. Kind of like where we are at right now. He spoke of King David and how he dealt with the dark spaces of the soul. His way of dealing with them was to write. He wrote Psalms. If you read the Psalms, they aren't always sweet religeous themed beauties. They start out harsh and brash and angry. But as David writes, the anger and fear and hurt is expressed. Then he gets to the point where what he knows to be true takes over. His knowledge of God and who God is is expressed and hope pushes away at the dark spaces of the soul. Hope in God. Hope in what�s good and right. Hope in the promise that we are never forgotten or forsaken.

Pastor Ron then told the congregation our story. How Bob has MD. How It�s progressing faster than we thought. How there is no way to stop it. How we were not prepared for this and how we now have to stop and reevaluate our lives, hopes, dreams, goals.

I tell you, we have never felt so loved, so welcomed, and so cared for as we felt after that service. And not one trite religeous word. Not one! We were hugged and loved on and prayed for and money was given to us. It was amazing. We cried...oh how we cried! But we were not alone. And we were able to love on, hug, and be there for other people who are also experiencing the dark places of the soul. We know their pain. Maybe not exactally...but we are familiar with that dark place. So we held on to them as they held on to us and we knew we were there for each other.

We had a good afternoon. We ate, we napped, and later in the evening, we sat on our patio with our cat and reveled in how good we have it. It was the perfect evening. Warm, breezy, quiet. We talked and laughed and watched our cat explore our yard.

We don�t know what to tomorrow will bring. We don�t know lots of things. But what we do know is what sustains us. We know we are loved. We know we are not alone. We know that we are cared for and our needs are met for today. Right now, that makes all the difference.

Thanks for reading

8:12 a.m. - Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004
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